Wanted: Funko X Hot Wheels
With the launch of Funko’s Pop! Rides series (Amazon.com search*) last year, the company showed all of us that they can apply their adorable design style to automobiles. Okay, Funko, now it’s time to take those skills and go wild by grabbing a Hot Wheels license and launching a series of Funko-designed takes on some of the classic Hot Wheels toy cars.
$9.99 Price Point
Like most of the Funko Pop! Vinyl series toys (Amazon.com search*) the perfect price point for a Funko Hot Wheels series would have to be ten bucks. Imagine these as vinyl, thick, heavily-stylized takes on classics like the Jet Threat series cars and I think you’ll see what I’m after.
Rolling wheels are a must, of course, to keep the Hot Wheels play value going. The cars wouldn’t roll as smoothly or quickly as the traditional Hot Wheels toy car, but these desired Funko Hot Wheels cars would no doubt race across surfaces to keep kids and collectors happy. I suspect the tires, like the cars, would wind up as hollow vinyl parts, but as long as the Funko team applies their own design sensibilities to the project then I’ll be happy no matter what speed the cars roll at.
Tracks?
One of the more popular playsets/accessories of the Hot Wheels line, I suspect that a Funko Hot Wheels series just wouldn’t be complete without some over-sized orange track to use with the designer toy cars. Straight and curved sections would be plenty — and I doubt that there would be loops — and now I’m starting to imagine what things could happen once someone got the itch to build a giant and elaborate track out of over-sized track pieces.
Wishful Thinking
To be honest, the Pop! Rides series (Amazon.com search*) likely only works because Funko is focusing on cars/characters that have a mainstream appeal. A Funko Hot Wheels toy car series would probably not perform anywhere near as well as the Funko Pop! Rides, making this entire wish an exercise in dreaming.
But when the idea first hit me I was forced to admit that I’d probably find myself buying several of the cars if this really happened. While there have been over-sized Hot Wheels toys in the past (light and sound series at Amazon.com*, light and sound series YouTube video), none of them have featured the exaggerated and stylized approach that I am certain Funko would bring to such a project.
So for now I’ll just sit back and dream, hoping that such a thing will happen one day. Funko and Hot Wheels. Feels like a perfect combo to me.